Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 23, 1993 TAG: 9309230148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They worried all week as police searched for the missing fifth-grader.
A team of teachers, psychologists and counselors had been in and out of the rural Rockbridge County school since Monday - urging kids to talk about their fears, giving them tips on how to stay safe and dealing with rumors.
As kids boarded buses for home Wednesday afternoon, they still held out some hope for Phadra. They did not know that a body believed to be the 11-year-old's had been found in Botetourt County.
She had been missing for five days, so by Tuesday some children speculated she might have been killed.
But, Rockbridge County school psychologist Penny Layman said Wednesday, "They weren't talking about her in the past tense at all."
Today, they will begin to do that, with the help of Layman and her counseling team.
Psychologists and guidance counselors from across the county system will talk with the grieving children. School Principal Eileen Head said a clinical psychologist with a private practice offered her services, too.
Educators said that children who didn't know Phadra or live in Rockbridge County will be disturbed by news of her death.
Bill Owings, assistant superintendent of Rockbridge schools, said children are particularly startled by the death of another child. "It hits home more than when a grandparent dies."
To reassure kids, he said, parents may review all the things that keep them safe - such as not wandering far from home, or telling their parents when anything or anybody seems threatening.
As for Phadra's death, he said, "You basically talk about loss, and you talk about the good times, the positive things, and then go through the different stages of grief - shock, denial, anger, acceptance - and what's normal to expect."
Owings wouldn't advise going over the details of her death. That could heighten children's anxieties. "But," he said, "certainly answer any questions" about how she died.
Principal Eileen Head described the girl this way:
"Very pretty, very petite, very sweet. Quiet and shy at times, but bubbly at others. Always friendly, always kind. The kind of child who would never hurt anyone else in any way."
Head said that Phadra's mother, Cynthia "Cindy" Layne, was attentive to her daughter's needs at school.
"Phadra was, in my opinion, Cynthia's life," said Head. "She always came to school clean. She was always nicely dressed. Her mother always made sure she had everything for school that she needed. She was very much there" for Phadra.
All week, Head said, her teachers tried to help the children deal with rumors about what happened to Phadra.
"Unfortunately," she said, "it turns out that a lot of them came true."
by CNB